Joseph Woodrow Gafford

Brief Life History of Joseph Woodrow

When Joseph Woodrow Gafford was born on 21 November 1914, in Alabama, United States, his father, Ester Dee Gafford, was 17 and his mother, Vella Magalene Phelps, was 14. He married Thelma Earline Little on 23 October 1937, in Alabama, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 daughter. He lived in United States in 1949 and Election Precinct 12 Greenville, Butler, Alabama, United States in 1950. He died on 23 June 1986, at the age of 71, and was buried in Sunrise Cemetery, Greenville, Butler, Alabama, United States.

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Family Time Line

Joseph Woodrow Gafford
1914–1986
Thelma Earline Little
1918–2003
Marriage: 23 October 1937
Faynette Gafford
1941–

Sources (10)

  • J W Gafford, "United States 1950 Census"
  • J Woodrow Gafford, "Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950"
  • Joseph Woodrow Gafford, "Find A Grave Index"

Spouse and Children

World Events (8)

1916 · The First woman elected into the US Congress

Jeannette Pickering Rankin became the first woman to hold a federal office position in the House of Representatives, and remains the only woman elected to Congress by Montana.

1917

U.S. intervenes in World War I, rejects membership of League of Nations.

1935 · The FBI is Established

The Bureau of Investigation's name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to help citizens know that the Government is helping protect from threats both domestically and abroad.

Name Meaning

English (southeastern): assimilated form of Gatford, a name of various origins. In Sussex and Surrey it is perhaps a variant of the habitational name Catford from a place so called in Somerset. Gatford is also from the habitational names Gateford (in Worksop, Nottinghamshire) or Gateforth (near Selby, Yorkshire), both formed with Old English gāt ‘goat’ + ford ‘ford’, influenced by Old Norse geit ‘goat’.

Probably also an altered form of German Gaffert: habitational name from Gaffert near Köslin, Brandenburg, or from a personal name formed with Middle High German gate ‘fellow, companion’. The surname Gaffert is very rare in Germany.

English: perhaps an altered form of Gatewood , an occupational name for a ‘goatherd’ (Middle English gate-werde, Old English gātweard) or for a ‘gate keeper’ (Middle English gateward, Old English ʒeatweard, dialect gātward).

Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

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